Education

Ph.D., University of Delaware; A.L.M, Harvard University; B.A., University of Massachusetts Boston

Bio

As an art historian with a focus on American art, I've traveled quite a bit around the United States. The Pacific Northwest is one of my favorite parts of this country. I am amazed by the majestic beauty of the Pacific Northwest, from the ocean's coastline to rainforests and the snow-capped mountains, and I'm always impressed by how environmentally conscious the people who live there are. That being said, there's nothing like a visit to Manhattan, Chicago or Washington, D.C., to energize the spirit.

What I'm Working On

What I Love About Emmanuel:

Boston has a rich and vibrant art community. I love that Emmanuel College students have access to all that this community has to offer, from art exhibitions to lectures by preeminent artists from around the world. I love that Emmanuel College faculty and students contribute to this community as does the Emmanuel College Artists Residency Program.

Courses I Teach

ART 2201: Visual Constructions of Gender

ART 2202: Art of Resistance: Social Justice and the Visual Arts

ART 2204: From Globalization to Transnationalism: Art in the Contact Zone

ART 2213: History of Photography

ART 2215: Modern Art

ART 2217: American Art to 1940

ART 2221 Contemporary Art and Artistic Practice

ART 2223: The Catholic Art Tradition

ART 3209: Art Since 1940

ART 3391/2: Special Topics in Art History

Publications + Presentations

Forthcoming Publications:

"A Sign of the Times: Sheila Hicks, the Fiber Arts Movement and the Language of Liberation." Journal of Modern Craft (spring 2014).

"Gender, Modern Art and Native Women Painters in the First Half of the Twentieth Century." (To be included in Transitional Generations, forthcoming anthology, edited by Helen Langa and Paula Wisotzki).

"Aboriginal Beauty and Self-Determination: The Photographic Projects of Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie." In Visualities: Perspectives on Contemporary American Indian Film and Art. Denise Cummings, ed. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2011.

"The Greatest Show on Earth: Visual Images of Women Circus Performers in Post World War I America." Mid-Atlantic Almanack 10 (2001): 7-28.

"The Intersecting of Theosophy and Modernism: Katherine Dreier and the Modern American Woman." Oculus 3, no. 1 (2000): 2-15.

Emmanuel Publications

Mary Reardon: Catholic Art in the Twentieth Century. Boston: Emmanuel College, 2013. This book is a compilation of student essays based on research that students completed using archival material from the Emmanuel College Archives on artist Mary Reardon.

James Renwick Fellowship in American Craft, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Summer 2007. Awarded for three months of research on craft production and its relationship to modernism in early twentieth century American art.

Winterthur Fellowship, Winterthur Museum, Wilmington, DE, Summer 2005. Awarded for one month of research on the hooked rug tradition in early twentieth-century American art.

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, Evergreen College, Olympia, WA, Summer 2003."Working from Community: American Indian Art and Literature in a Historical and Cultural Context," six weeks of intensive study of American Indian art and literature to further more thoughtful scholarship on native culture and to encourage teaching strategies that integrate native topics into general courses on art and literature.

Research Focus

My area of specialty is American art from the first half of the twentieth century, and my scholarship focuses on American women artists and craft production from this time period. I have also written on American Indian art and the relationship between American modernist art and Catholicism.

I am currently working on editing my dissertation into a book. The book will examine the modernist embroideries of the American artist Marguerite Zorach. I am also developing a new course on the History of American Craft.